Australian Army to roll out Black Hornet micro UAVs
Gabriel Dominguez, London - IHS Jane's Defence Weekly
24 May 2018

Australian Army soldiers with a PD-100 Black Hornet UAV during an exercise at the Shoalwater Bay Training Area in Queensland on 4 May 2018. Source: Commonwealth of Australia
The Australian Army (AA) will soon roll out the PD-100 Black Hornet Personal Reconnaissance System (PRS) across one of its brigades in Brisbane, the Department of Defence (DoD) in Canberra announced in a 24 May statement.

The rollout and sustainment of the micro unmanned aircraft systems (UASs) is an AUD18 million (USD13.6 million) project and a “key capability milestone for the army as it continues to be a technologically advanced force”, said the DoD.

Brigadier Susan Coyle, commander of the AA’s 6th Combat Support Brigade and of the service’s only UAS unit – the 20th Surveillance Target Acquisition Regiment – was quoted in the statement as saying that the rollout is a “significant achievement for the army”.

“UASs are a game-changer for the army, providing enhanced situational awareness for better mission execution for Australian soldiers,” said the brigadier, adding that the rollout of these micro UASs to AA soldiers is an "exciting example of adopting tactical robotic technology”.

The AA operates several UASs ranging from the rotary-wing Black Hornet PRS to large, nine-hour endurance surveillance systems such as the RQ-7B Shadow 200.

The latest move comes after manufacturer FLIR Systems announced in October 2017 that it had been awarded a USD6.8 million contract to supply an undisclosed number of its PD-100 Black Hornet 2 PRSs to the AA.

The US-based company said at the time that the UASs would be used to support surveillance and reconnaissance operations at platoon and troop level, adding that deliveries were expected to commence in 2018 and be completed within one year.

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June 14 (UPI) -- Australia's submarine fleet will receive sonar system upgrades with a $173 million contract with Thales Australia, the the company and Minister for the Defense Industry Christopher Pyne announced on Thursday.

The contract is part of a $407 million project approved by the Australian government to improve the sensor capabilities of the country's Collins Class, six diesel-electric motor submarine fleet. Work will begin later this year at Thales' Rydalmere facility in western Sydney. About 70 percent of the overall work, which will directly create over 140 jobs, will be of Australian industry content.

Thales will work with local industries to deliver upgrades to the six-submarine fleet, it said on Wednesday. The legacy cylindrical arrays on the vessels will be replaced with the Modular Cylindrical Array, which is based on new Sonar 2076 technology, the company said.

Australia is to acquire six Northrop Grumman MQ-4C Triton maritime unmanned aerial systems (UASs), with the first platform scheduled to enter service in mid-2023, Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull announced on 26 June.

All six Tritons are planned to be fully operational by late 2025, Turnbull disclosed in a joint statement with Defence Minister Marise Payne and Defence Industry Minister Christopher Pyne.

“The Triton will complement the surveillance role of the P-8A Poseidon aircraft through sustained operations at long ranges as well as being able to undertake a range of intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance tasks,” the statement said.

“Together, these aircraft will significantly enhance our anti-submarine warfare and maritime strike capability , as well as our search and rescue capability.”

Initial spending of AUD1.4 billion (USD1.04 billion) on Project Air 7000 Phase 1B will cover purchase of the first aircraft and AUD364 million will be spent on the construction of new operational and support facilities at Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) base Edinburgh near Adelaide and RAAF base Tindal in the Northern Territory, as well as on initial ground support equipment, training, and spares.

Total programme cost was not disclosed but is expected to be around AUD7 billion.

The initial amount also includes an AUD200 million investment in the US Navy-led Triton co-operative development programme.

Together with the P-8A Poseidon multimission maritime aircraft, the high-altitude, long-endurance Tritons will replace the RAAF’s fleet of 19 AP-3C Orion maritime patrol aircraft that entered service in the mid-1980s. The last of the Orions will be retired in 2023.

British defence giant BAE Systems has won a multi-billion pound contract from the Australian government to build nine new warships, marking a significant victory for British military exports.

BAE beat Italian and Spanish rivals to win a large slice of the £19.6bn ($25.7bn; A$35bn) spending programme.

The ships will be based on anti-submarine frigates that BAE is building for the UK's Royal Navy.

However, the new warships will be built in Australia by a local workforce.

BAE's Australian arm said the construction of the ships locally would make a significant contribution to Australia's economy "creating thousands of jobs, supporting new industries and boosting the national supply chain for decades to come".

"We are proud to have been selected as preferred tenderer to provide the Royal Australian Navy with a world-class ship, equipped with the latest technologies and designed specifically to meet its needs," BAE Systems Australia chief executive, Gabby Costigan said.

UK Prime Minister Theresa May said the deal was also an "enormous boost" for the UK economy and reflected the government's strategy to "build on our close relationships with allies like Australia" as the UK prepares to leave the EU.

It is the first export of a British design for new-build frigates since the 1970s, the UK government said.

The ships to be built will be based on BAE Systems' Type 26 frigate, and will be called the "Hunter class".

Production in Australia is expected to commence in 2020.

Australian jobs

The Hunter class ships will be built in Adelaide, South Australia, by government-owned ASC Shipbuilding and the programme is expected to create at least 5,000 local jobs across about 30 years.

"The Hunter class will provide the Australian Defence Force with the highest levels of lethality and deterrence our major surface combatants need in periods of global uncertainty," the Australian government said.

The ships will be fitted with long-range anti-missile defence systems.

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While the overall budget is £19.6bn, only a part of that will come to BAE Systems for the design and build of the frigates.

BAE Systems chief executive Charles Woodburn said: "I am proud that our world class anti-submarine warfare design and our approach to transferring technology and skills to the nations in which we work is expected to contribute to the development of an enduring world-class naval shipbuilding industry in Australia."

Italy's Fincantieri SpA and Spain's Navantia also bid for the contract.

'Deal of the century'
BAE's shipyards on the Clyde in Glasgow are unlikely to see a significant boost to jobs.

Gary Cook of the GMB union criticised the deal, saying: "The inconvenient truth is that we're not exporting ships, only manufacturing jobs that should be going to British shipbuilding communities.

"And had the UK government and BAE invested in the promised frigate factory at Scotstoun, those frigates could easily be built here.

"Instead, there is a rubble pile where that factory should be, while 4,000 jobs and significant prosperity will be enjoyed in Australia and not the UK."

Nevertheless, defence analysts said the deal represented a significant success for British naval exports.

"It is the deal of the century," said Francis Tusa, editor of industry newsletter Defence Analysis.

The UK has had an "abysmal" export record for warship sales for the past five decades, he said. But this represented "a massive sea-change".

Canada, which is also planning to order warships later this year, might be influenced by Australia's decision, he added.

Selling the design overseas will help spread the costs of design and production of many elements of the frigate, potentially bringing down the cost of the Type 26 to the Royal Navy significantly, according to Mr Tusa.

However, it was not only BAE Systems who would benefit from the deal, he said.

Small and medium-sized UK companies would be likely to win orders for some of the technology required on the Australian ships.

Firms that are already supplying the UK government's order of the Type 26 would be in a strong position to also supply Australian orders.